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London 2012: Introducing... John Joe Nevin

Today we get in the ring with Ireland’s top-seeded male boxer.

Event: Boxing (56kg)

Who is he? John Joe Nevin is a 23-year-old Bantamweight who was unfortunate to miss out on the podium in Beijing, but has since shown his talent to medal twice in the World Championships.

©INPHO/Cathal Noonan

Road to London: The Mullingar man (who fights out of Cavan) booked his place while claiming his second World Champion bronze in Baku last year. He is the only Irish male to claim two podium finishes at world level.

What he says about himself: Speaking to RTE, he said: “You can box to your best and on any given day you can still be beaten. But my confidence is sky high and my record has said it all over the last four years.”

What they’re saying on the internet: “At his best there is no one at his weight that Nevin isn’t capable of beating, and he rarely loses to nothing fighters either, most of his losses are close defeats to quality fighters.” – Big Ears (Boards.ie)

Medal chances: In Beijing, the draw hurt Nevin as he was beaten by the eventual champion, Enkhbatyn Badar-Uuga.

Badar Uuga will not be in London and Nevin has fought his way to become fourth seed in his division. Tajikistan’s Anvar Yunusov is the top seed, but he has only one World Championship bronze to his name. If any Irish man can make the national anthem play in London, Nevin can.

We’re putting all our Jimmy-power behind him.

On the Twitter: Yes, you can follow @johnJoeNevin but as of last Friday he has given it up for the Games. However, he has enlisted help to tweet updates of his progress. Post-Olympics, here’s an example of what you might expect. Nevin knows how to chill out.

If you meet him at a bar, ask him... ‘How is the jaw? He managed to get it broken while fighting with his Paris team in the professional World Boxing Series (WBS). It has been a setback, but Nevin should have enough speed and experience to plot a route to the final four, at least.

If he were a YouTube video, he would be...  ’John Joe-San. Walk on road: walk right side, safe. Walk left side, safe. Walk middle, sooner or later, get squished like grape.’

YouTube credit: 805Bruin

Read more of TheScore’s “London 2012: Introducing” series here >

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